The Crisis of Modern Subjectivity: Rethinking Muhammad Iqbal and the Islamic Tradition

Abstract

Despite the numerous books and articles on the thought and legacy of Muḥammad Iqbāl (d. 1938), hardly any significant academic studies exist that critically evaluate his philosophical thought in relation to his Muslim predecessors. The present article thus intervenes in the field of Iqbāl studies by challenging current scholarly assessments that present Iqbāl as a heroic reformer of Islam. This article is composed of three parts. It begins by providing a critical review of various scholarly treatments of Iqbāl's reformist thought and draws attention to problematic aspects of the current state of such scholarship. The article then proceeds to examine the ways in which Iqbāl's works frequently misconstrue or misrepresent various premodern Islamic texts and doctrines. It does so in two ways. The first of these involves an examination of Iqbāl's Eurocentric reading of premodern Islamic intellectual traditions and demonstrates that this is not only methodologically problematic but moreover undermined by Iqbāl's own limited grasp of modern scientific theories, such as evolution and the theory of relativity. This is followed by an examination of the concepts of selfhood (khūdī) and annihilation of the self (fanā'). Prominently featured in Iqbāl's thought and writings, his treatment of these two concepts illustrates the problematic aspects of his particular mode of interpreting premodern Islamic philosophy and Sufism. Overall, this article demonstrates that Iqbāl's status as a heroic reformer of Islam is misleading, as his interpretation of the premodern Islamic tradition is not as credible as it has often been presented to be over the past century.